Tagged Mixtape

Time for our annual shoegaze and dream pop albums of the year *drum roll*! It turns out an EP from last year is our top album for this year – ha! Such is the fickle business of list making. To be fair, the EP in question was released worldwide early in 2014 with a pre-release in Japan last December, so we figure it counts. Plus to ignore EPs in this niche would be sacrilegious! Moving on…

2014 began strong with the news of Slowdive‘s reformation and live shows, it ends with a similar announcement from Ride. Can’t get much bigger for reverb fans! Next year the holy trinity of shoegazin’ forefathers will be operational; MBV, Slowdive and Ride. And let’s not forget Swervedriver! The rock gods have been kind. The long awaited ‘Beautiful Noise’ documentary provided a cherry on top, and a reminder of where it all began.

The gluttony of electronic dream pop bands faded this year, replaced by more organic and natural sounding albums, Be Forest‘s ‘Earthbeat’ is at the top. The post-hardcore/punk sound swept into the shoegaze world via Nothing‘s ‘Guilty Of Everything’ and Whirr‘s ‘Sway’ (among others). The former being the obvious people’s choice, the most talked about and probably the most influential album on the list. We may see a swathe of Nothing band clones in 2015!

Ringo Deathstarr managed to add something new to the genre with ‘Gods Dream’, a twist on expectations. And of course, it’s full of brilliant songs. 2014 also gave us some amazing debut releases, Italian shoegaze trio La Casa al Mare are yet to deliver a full length but their singles are jaw droppers. Another point of note was the Aussie “roo gaze” explosion of 2014, with top shelf tunes from Lowtide, Fait, Roku Music, Kigo, Blush Response and Hideous Towns.

DAVE’S SAY: Another banner year for shoegaze and dream pop in the books (what, me biased?). I’ve got to thank my mate Jimmy and SBWR for the shot to be part of it! Both of my standout favorites came via Italy. Because it didn’t find an apt home on our list, let me first call out La Casa Al Mare’s dual two-trackers as the debut of the year; that there wasn’t a full LP release made the task of sorting the crème-de-la-crème for this season’s list a touch easier! Be Forest’s ‘Earthbeat’ was a transporting, impressionistic masterpiece that has gotten better and better, solidifying itself as one of the most beautifully satisfying albums I’ve heard. Lowtide, Bilinda Butchers, Fait, Sounds of Sputnik And Ummagma, ‘APZOO,’ and Imandra Lake’s releases pointed to the impressive diversity and talent represented in “the scene” from every corner of the globe. There were crushingly reverberant singles from Magic Love, The Hours, My Red Dress, Kigo, 93MMFTS, Blood Sister; Louise Trehy’s long hiatus was broken with an under-appreciated success, and Dead Mellotron’s shorter-term hiatus ended with a yuletide treat. There were more top shelf efforts than we could keep track of, a forecast I expect will last through 2015!

Summing up, we’ve compiled a mixed bag of 2014 faves, combining shoegaze and dream pop. A number of stellar albums were left out due to genre lines. For instance, there were strong psych and post rock records from Alcest, Lorelle Meets The Obsolete and Medicine. No doubt, more gems will be discovered in the coming months that should’ve been included, so please make your recommendations in the comments below. Our songs of the year playlist has been reworked, expanded and re-posted underneath. Plus there’s a recap of the best shoegaze and dream pop records of the past few years (according to Sounds Better). Deep breath, here we go…

SHOEGAZE AND DREAM POP ALBUMS OF 2014

#

Artwork

Artist

Album

Genre

Label

1

Ringo Deathstarr

God's Dream [EP]

Shoegaze

Neon Sigh/Noyes

2

Be Forest

Earthbeat

Dream Pop

WWNBB

3

Nothing

Guilty Of Everything

Shoegaze/Rock

Relapse Records

4

Cheatahs

Cheatahs

Shoegaze/Rock

Wichita Recordings

5

A Sunny Day In Glasgow

Sea When Absent

Dream Pop

Lefse Records

6

Fait

Atmosphere [EP]

Shoegaze/Instrumental

Self R

7

The Bilinda Butchers

Heaven

Dream Pop/Concept

Orchid Tapes/Fastcut

8

The Enters

Small Town Love [EP]

Shoegaze

Self R

9

The Mary Onettes

Portico

Dream Pop/Jangle Pop

Labrador

10

We Need Secrets

Melancholy And The Archive

Shoegaze

Saint Marie Records / Noyes

11

Whirr

Sway

Shoegaze/Rock

Graveface Records

12

Roku Music

Collider

Shoegaze

Sonic Masala Records

13

Lightfoils

Hierarchy

Dream Pop/Shoegaze

Saint Marie Records

14

Lowtide

Lowtide

Dream Pop

Lost And Lonesome

15

Blush Response

Telltale [EP]

Shoegaze

Self R

16

She Sir

Go Guitars

Dream Pop/Jangle Pop

Shelflife Records

17

Imandra Lake

Avane

Dream Pop/Folk

Seksound

18

The Death Of Pop

Fifths [EP]

Shoegaze/Psych

Art Is Hard

19

Kairon; IRSE!

Ujubasajuba

Shoegaze/Psych

Self R

20

To The Wedding

Silver Currents [EP]

Dream Pop

Self R

21

Viscous Liquid

Songs for Jealous Lovers [EP]

Shoegaze/Surf

One Note Forever

22

Wildhoney

Seventeen Forever [EP]

Shoegaze/Rock

Photobooth Records

23

Aerofall

Aerofall

Shoegaze

Hands And Moment

24

Dead Mellotron

Winter 2014 [EP]

Dream/Jangle/Psych

Self R

25

Nothing/Whirr

Whirr/Nothing Split [EP]

Shoegaze/Rock

Run For Cover Records

26

Reighnbeau

Hands

Shoegaze/Electronic

Bridgetown Records

27

Neiv

Decades [EP]

Shoegaze/Dream Pop

Self R

28

Asalto Al Parque Zoológico

Hexadecimal

Shoegaze

Casa del Puente Discos

29

The Cherry Wave

Avalancher

Shoegaze/Rock

Self R

30

Ceremony

Birds [EP]

Noise Rock/Shoegaze

Emerald & Doreen Recordings

31

Power Pyramid

Power Pyramid

Shoegaze/Rock

Self R

32

Kigo

Close (Enough To Kiss) [EP]

Shoegaze

Self R

33

Sounds of Sputnik Feat. Ummagma

New Born

Shoegaze/Dream Pop

Ear to Ear Records

34

Hideous Towns

Hideous Towns [EP]

Dream Pop

Self R

35

Elastic Sleep

Leave You [EP]

Dream Pop/Shoegaze

Big Tea Records

36

Spotlight Kid

Ten Thousand Hours

Shoegaze/Rock

Saint Marie Records

37

TuT

You Got Me When I Stare At You

Dream Pop/Shoegaze

Self R

38

Snowbird

Moon

Dream Pop/AC

Bella Union

39

Strata Florida

Made Of Stars

Shoegaze/Dream POp

Saint Marie Records

40

Mentalease

Indian Summer

Shoegaze/Rock

Self R

SONGS OF 2014

TOP 20 SHOEGAZE AND DREAM POP ALBUMS OF 2013 (RECAP)

#

Artwork

Artist

Album

Genre

Year

1

My Bloody Valentine

MBV

Shoegaze

2013

2

Weekend

Jinx

Shoegaze/Post Punk

2013

3

Medicine

To The Happy Few

Shoegaze/Psych

2013

4

No Joy

Wait To Pleasure

Shoegaze/Rock

2013

5

Panda Riot

Northern Automatic Music

Shoegaze

2013

6

Flyying Colours

Flyying Colours [EP]

Shoegaze

2013

7

Venera 4

Deaf Hearts [EP]

Shoegaze

2013

8

Brothers In Law

Hard Times For Dreamers

Dream Pop/Jangle Pop

2013

9

Ovlov

Am

Shoegaze/Rock

2013

10

Beliefs

Self Titled

Shoegaze/Dream Pop

2013

11

Dråpe

Canicular Days

Dream Pop/Psych

2013

12

Besnard Lakes

Until in Excess, Impercetible UFO

Dream Pop/Psych

2013

13

Ceremony

Distance

Shoegaze/Noise Rock

2013

14

Candy Claws

Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time

Dream Pop/Shoegaze

2013

15

White Poppy

S/T

Shoegaze/Instrumental

2013

16

Kigo

So Lost Now

Shoegaze

2013

17

Whirr

Around [EP]

Shoegaze/Rock

2013

18

Dead Leaf Echo

Thought And Language

Shoegaze/Dream Pop

2013

19

Black Hearted Brother

Stars Are Our Home

Shoegaze/Psych

2013

20

Miniatures

DIS [EP]

Shoegaze/Dream Pop

2013

TOP 20 SHOEGAZE AND DREAM POP ALBUMS OF 2012 (RECAP)

#

Artwork

Artist

Album

Genre

Year

1

Dead Mellotron

Glitter [EP]

Shoegaze

2012

2

Diiv

Oshin

Dream Pop/Jangle Pop

2012

3

Arc In Round

Arc In Round

Shoegaze

2012

4

Ringo Deathstarr

Mauve

Shoegaze

2012

5

Echo Lake

Wild Peace

Dream Pop

2012

6

Tamaryn

Tender New Signs

Dream Pop/Shoegaze

2012

7

A Place To Bury Strangers

Worship

Shoegaze/Noise Rock

2012

8

Wild Nothing

Nocturne

Dream Pop/Jangle Pop

2012

9

Snøskred

Whiteout

Shoegaze

2012

10

Airiel

Kid Games [EP]

Shoegaze/Dream Pop

2012

11

Whirr

Pipe Dreams

Shoegaze/Rock

2012

12

Young Prisms

In Between

Shoegaze

2012

13

Death And Vanilla

Death And Vanilla

Dream Pop/Psych Pop

2012

14

Frankie Rose

Interstellar

Dream Pop

2012

15

Beach House

Bloom

Dream Pop

2012

16

Melody's Echo Chamber

Melody's Echo Chamber

Dream Pop/Psych Pop

2012

17

Highlands

Singularity

Shoegaze/Psych

2012

18

93millionmilesfromthesun

Towards The Light

Shoegaze/Noise Rock

2012

19

Observer Drift

Corridors

Dream Pop

2012

20

Violens

True

Dream Pop/Pop

2012

So that’s our Shoegaze And Dream Pop Albums of 2014, but what’s next!? We’re expecting a number of amazing records in 2015, with known releases from The Black Ryder, Tamaryn, Venera 4, Wildhoney, 93MMFTS, La Casa al Mare, Cheatahs, Dead Leaf Echo, She’s So Rad, Pinkyshinyultrablast, Cloakroom and more. See more end of year lists at our Hall Of Fame page/s.

With half of 2014 already in the books, it’s time to take a look at the stand out shoegaze and dream pop tunes of the year so far (as posted on Sounds Better With Reverb). Hopefully you’ll find something in this playlist that flies your kite! It’ll be updated periodically (until 2014 is behind us). If you notice something’s been missed, please click through and have a say in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Recommended listening can also be found in the review section here. For the purists, note that there’s a few songs in the list that hit the web in 2013 but weren’t released until this year. Plus a few jangle pop and psych tracks to spice things up. Happy hunting!

Slowdive have put together a mixtape for Dazed featuring some of their favourite tunes. Read the full article here and prepare to see this re-posted all over the music web! The hour plus mix features Flying Saucer Attack, Boards Of Canada, Slint and many more…

Sun Glitters (aka Victor Ferrerira) has released a top shelf mixtape of downbeat electronica and chillwave via French website Das Kuma. I’m no aficionado of the genre, but if you’re after some relaxed ambient tunes to read the paper to, do the dishes, catch the bus… this will help you zone out. The mixtape follow’s Sun Glitters latest EP ‘High’ that was released in January.